The Impact She Left
by Morganel
Summary: Lieutenant Alicia Washington's impact on the people in her life, what they took from the relationships they had with her, and what she left for them. SOME chapters will be M, you shall be notified.
1. Model Me By

**Got a few more of these coming your way, so stay tuned. and I've taken the liberty of naming Corporal Reilly, Laura. So until we hear otherwise, that's what her name will be in my fics. Enjoy **

She'd loved the image in her head, which Commander Nathaniel Taylor had put there, that one day she'd be in uniform. She always did love uniforms. That conversation with the Commander never left her, and she always modeled herself after one person who had a very weighted impact in her life. One week after being settled into her new home with her brother she'd started running. It didn't matter where, she was always very good with finding her way places, and had already developed a good understanding of whereabouts inside the Colony. So she'd go, blond ponytail bobbing (just the first of many ways she modeled herself after that important person) early in the morning before school, and return red faced and breathing hard to take a refreshing shower.

Leah Marcos, from the very moment Commander Taylor said he'd have to put her in uniform, she'd wanted to be like Lieutenant Washington. She was beautiful and strong, and no dumb boys ever messed with her. That's how she wanted to be. To Leah the Lieutenant was like her mom and like Mira, strong, capable, and a 'take-no-crap' like kind of woman (like her dad had used to say). If she got up early enough for the month leading up the when the Phoenix Group arrived Lieutenant Alicia Washington would run with her. It put the biggest grin on her face, even when she was reduced to huffing and puffing, it never ceased to be some of the greatest runs she'll ever remember.

When the Phoenix Group came she'd been in the market with her brother and some other kids from the school. She'd seen Lieutenant Washington through all the chaos, shielding a mother and her baby from an explosion as she guided them as near to shelter as possible. Leah, swelling with courage had told her friends and brother to run to the school as fast as they could and even held onto a younger girl's hand while they ran. The last thing Leah saw before taking cover was Lieutenant Washington dragging one of the soldier boys away from an ashen crater in the rubble.

Just as Commander Taylor had said, she's a feisty one. Their teacher wasn't in the school. She'd told the others with as much authority she could put into her wavering voice to stay in the corner while she went outside to check what was happening. The moment she did so she was scooped up very forcefully by none other than the Lieutenant herself and carried right back into the building.

"Leah Marcos, you stay right here and don't you come out until someone you trust comes to find you. You hear me, Cadet?" That she'd called her by her nickname gave the seriousness of her tone all the more impact.

"Yes Ma'am." She nods, catching the Lieutenant's sleeve before she can bolt back out the door.

"You're one I trust, Lieutenant. So you come on back, when we're safe." The seriousness in her tone made the Lieutenant smile. A wail of fear from the back room had both Leah and the Lieutenant bolting to the other kids. A Phoenix soldier has his gun trained on Sam and he didn't notice Leah until she'd kicked him in the shins. He moves quickly and hits her jaw with the head of his gun. It wasn't that hard, but she fell and quickly scrambled over to her brother as Lieutenant Washington knocked the man unconscious with two punches. Leah swore to herself in that moment that she'd be able to do that one day. Lieutenant Washington returned a moment later after throwing the Phoenix soldier outside and barricading the back door.

"Stay here. Stay quiet. Leah, as soon as this is over, I will see you for our run, got it?" She manages a smile and Leah nods back and then the Lieutenant is gone. Gone in a heartbeat.

Leah Marcos runs with Lieutenant Alicia Washington every day after the Phoenix Group leaves. It's that authoritative voice in her head telling her to hustle that keeps her determined. Every day that image would have her hauling her ass out of bed to run. She'd find herself getting up earlier, same mental image of the stoic Lieutenant using her C-O tone to keep her motivated, was late for class a couple times, so the earlier she'd rise the longer she could run. She never missed a day; built herself up enough to avoid the worst parts of seasonal colds, ran even if she was stuffed up.

With her blond ponytail bobbing she eventually has Commander Taylor bringing her into some of the training sessions for the newest soldiers. A whole four years younger she beats or meets every eighteen year old boy and girl in almost each different training areas. She excels in hand-to-hand combat, leaving some big boys on their backs with bloody noses. That's in her free time of course. Leah doesn't have to beg long for Doc Shannon to let her do an apprenticeship in the infirmary a good two years before she's required to. She drags herself to the Eye with a dummy to practice the 'medieval' medicine when the nurses and doctors can't tell her about something. She has the guilty pleasure of listening to Lieutenant Washington's recorded instructions on suturing and 'in field emergency medicine' and even copies them to her personal Plex; the recordings becoming her Bible. Leah has the chance to put these acquired skills to the test when a convoy returns with a handful of injured soldiers and one is left on a bio bed (seemingly one of the lesser injured) and Leah takes the liberty to check him out. The colony has done remarkably well considering the loss of contact with 2149 and she understands that resources ought not to be wasted. The solider is unconscious, all the other doctors and nurses are tending to the more seriously injured, he's bleeding (quite a bit, if she's honest with herself) and she's there to help. She cleans, disinfects, and sutures his two wounds within a time that even the Lieutenant she'd learned it all for would find impressive. It isn't until later that Doc Shannon finds out. Going over the medical files and finding a name that she doesn't at all remember treating, not even seeing during the earlier semi-chaotic mess. Leah is at her side always observing with great care. Dr. Shannon looks over the stitches with a contemplative expression and looks over her chart again.

"Is there something wrong?" Leah asks hoping that she hadn't made a mistake. Dr. Shannon shakes her head.

"No, the wounds look fine...But, I can't for the life of me remember seeing him earlier." She admits.

"Nor, does it say who treated him." Her brow is creased with confusion and Leah takes the opportunity to speak up.

"I treated him Doctor." She says, standing at attention, remembering the posture; having adopted it from four years of observing the soldiers and almost five months of part time training. Elisabeth Shannon's mouth forms a perfect o that lasts only a moment before she composes herself.

"I'll see you tomorrow, at nine in the morning; I want you to demonstrate for me."

After that day she'd been allowed to stitch up anyone, and even got to go into the field sometimes for OTG excursions with the Freshs. Got to show her 'In Field' worth two years short of getting her Military Credentials when one of the boys had decided to disregard the C-O's recommendation to "watch your step" and took a tumble slicing his calf a good fifteen centimetres. Lieutenant Laura Reilly had personally come over to watch with an impressed smirk when the official 'In Training" Medic's hands kept shaking and Leah had pushed him out of the way and fixed the inobservant joker right up.

When she finally got her Military credentials she was by no means a Fresh. She stood on the stage with the other new soldiers and imagined the great Lieutenant Washington smiling at her from the Audience next to the retired but still strong Commander Taylor. She ought to be there in the flesh but imagining it and keeping in mind that it most likely made the woman proud was enough to keep a grin on her face.

She stopped by the Lieutenant's grave later that evening, proudly wearing her uniform.

"I certainly wish you were seeing this, Ma'am." She starts smiling sadly down at the head stone. It reads:

**Soldier, Friend, Sister**, **Martyr**

**Lieutenant Alicia 'Wash' Washington**

"But I'd be lying if I didn't think you are already seeing all this from where ever you are. You're in the same place are my parents. I got to where I am today because I saw a super hero my first day here. Lieutenant Alicia Washington, that's the name I think of when I think of whom I want to be like. I'm a follower in your footsteps, and I hope that I've lived up to your name thus far." She takes a deep breath and places the bouquet of flowers she brought in front of the head stone.

"You've lived up to it alright." She turns to face the aging Commander Taylor with a nod and a small smile.

"I'm glad you think so, sir." His smile reaches his eyes; she finds her own smiles growing a bit, because she remembers how that privilege (to have Nathaniel Taylor truly smile in your presence) is something not many have.

"I don't _think_ so, Peanut. I know so." She laughs at that and falls into step with him as they walk back toward the Gates. He gives her a pat on her shoulder.

"Wash's proud. I'm proud, and don't for a second forget that." He says. She nods.

"No, Commander I don't think I will."

When they return to the Gates Commander Taylor turns to her and takes her hand placing something into her open palm.

"She wanted you to have these. Never doubted for a second that you'd choose anything else but solider for your career." He smiles again and walks off toward the Command Center, he still works tirelessly even in retirement.

Alicia Washington left for Leah Marcos her first pair of dog tags, her very first. They were among the few possessions she had managed to keep over the many long years and many treacherous wars she'd been through. Leah Marcos received them the day she turned eighteen and got her Military Credentials. Leah Marcos modeled herself after Lieutenant Alicia Washington (the same way her brother took after the great Doctor Malcolm Wallace) and from the Lieutenant she took: courage, motivation and a 'take no shit' attitude. She would never be forgotten by this girl and her family.


	2. Dedication & Inspiration

He'd always looked up to her. She'd been the person to take a liking to him. He knows she'd thought of him as a brother, she'd had two. He saw her as a sister and a mentor; passionate, strong-willed, and even a little sassy at times. She was beautiful. In the way that makes a brother protect his sister. A brother always sees beauty in his sister. And she had been beautiful. He had even gotten a few bloody noses and sore jaws for standing up in her honour before the other grunts in his team got it through their skulls that _no one_ talks about Lieutenant Washington in any other way than what is purely subordinate and respectful. Not many of the boys had had the privilege of being her friend. She was always a C-O but Mark had been lucky enough to know her as Alicia. He can honestly say that Lieutenant Washington doesn't have a flaw that doesn't bring out the best in her. It sounds better in his head but it's the truth. She has flaws, visible ones; scars on her back, on her chest (he'd had to help a medic once when she'd gotten hit by a Slasher, the wound wasn't deep but the she'd been bleeding quite nicely a few inches under her left breast. Again he'd been more concerned about the wound, he'd only once seen her as a woman, but that had come and gone in a matter of days, and in a matter of months she'd turned into his sister.), and on other parts of her that remain hidden under cargoes or jeans. She has flaws in her personality, everyone does. War alters people, she'd been amongst the ones whom had seen the worst of it, no one can leave unscathed. Regardless of these, or rather, even with these flaws; to Mark Reynolds, Alicia Washington was flawless. "Little brother wonder", would be an accurate description of how Mark sees Alicia Washington.

Her death enlarges his respect and love for her in ways he wasn't aware possible. His heart hurts. Loosing family, even surrogate family, takes its toll on everyone. It's Mark who requests that Commander Taylor add _sister _to her head stone; she'd been one to a handful of soldiers and it seemed fitting. The Commander had agreed, and even allowed Mark to carry her casket from the Gates along with him, Jim Shannon, and Corporal Reilly. He'd stood, in his uniform, alongside his fellow soldiers with roses in hand. When it was his turn he'd stepped up, and placed his rose onto the lid of her casket and spoke quietly.

"You will undoubtedly be missed, Alicia, but none of us can thank you enough. Rest in peace, sis." He'd returned to his spot in the line, and Maddy had taken his hand from where she stood behind him in the stagger. He doesn't recall needing a hand to hold quite as much as he did in that moment.

Maddy hadn't known Lieutenant Washington well. But in their short time or knowing each other, Maddy had been inspired by the woman. Lieutenant Washington had two sides to her that she'd been able to witness and Maddy felt that she'd been privileged to see something not many people got to see. One, would have to be the stoic and authoritative Lieutenant who struck just enough fear into all the soldiers, men and women, so that they knew she was not one to be messed with. The other, what she'd seen during their encounter with the Commander under the effects of the Memory Virus. Collected, soothing, concerned, and even sad. Maddy found the emotion on the Lieutenant's face that night humanizing. That she'd died to help her family escape made all the more impact on her. It made her embrace family more, see things in a new light; her perspective changed. She would use her skills to better the Colony. They were cut off, and it was up to them to find ways to survive with limited power (solar is always available) and resources.

It was in the evening. Maddy was reclined on the couch with a hand over her tummy and a contemplative expression on her face that made her look like her mother. Mark was leaning on the island across the room watching her with a smile on his face. He picked up their two mugs of tea and walked over to her and sat down placing the tea on the coffee table and leaning back.

"I have something to say." "I want to tell you something."

They both grin when they speak in unison.

"You go first." Maddy says, eyes twinkling.

"No you." Neither speaks up.

"I want to name our baby Alicia." "I want her name to be Alicia."

They grin simultaneously, and Mark leans down to kiss Maddy affectionately.

"So, we're in agreement, then?" He asks and Maddy nods, face lighting up. She grabs his hand and places it on her tummy. His face lights up in turn when he feels their daughter kicking.

"Guess she likes the name." Maddy says.

Alicia Washington left for Mark an album. Photos she'd saved and cherished. Mark gets the album on the day he gets promoted to Lieutenant, from the Commander himself.

"She wanted you have these. Told me to save 'em until you got to Lieutenant." He places the small tag into Mark's hand and nods at him.

"Congratulations, Lieutenant."

"Thank you, sir." And he means it, not too sure he's ever meant it quite as sincerely.

Some were quite old, going back to her first days in the Forces. Mark found himself smiling when he came to some of Nathaniel Taylor and Alicia Washington from way back. He'd known they went a ways back, but he hadn't quite known how far. Brown hair, big grin, covered in dust. Raven hair, big grin, covered in dust. He copies that one to a separate album on his Plex and keeps scrolling through the photos. He'll go over these with his daughter one day, tell her whom she's named for. His smile turns sad when he finds the ones of him and her. Smiling, she has him in a head lock, and he's grinning too. Arm draped around his shoulder, both covered in mud, standing in front of a dead Slasher. Her scowl and his grin when she'd been subjected to a dress on Christmas. There are plenty. He saves each one to the same separate album and keeps one, just one on display in his bedroom. His promotion to Corporal; she's standing next to him arm around his shoulder and they're both grinning. When he goes over the album he can almost feel her next to him, arm over his shoulder chuckling to herself and saying.

"Those were some of the shittiest and best times of my life."

He doesn't doubt those imagined words for a moment.

Alicia Washington was a sister, and an inspiration. Mark Reynolds and Maddy Shannon took from her, a name, and gave it to their first born daughter. Alicia Katherine Reynolds. Mark took from Alicia, her sternness and her understanding, her passion and her devotion to her 'brothers'. Mark became a big brother to Zoe, even though she already had one, Mark was to Zoe a confidant she'd trust with close to everything. Maddy took Alicia's unbreakable belief that the Colony would thrive, and put it into her work. She started out as an apprentice with Malcolm, and eventually started her own projects. She ended up bringing several antidotes, pain killers and disinfectants into use via a good handful of plants, as well as a handful of antibiotics and cures. What they take from her is the unbreakable faith she held for the Colony and they use it by making it thrive.


End file.
